Josephus Jacobus de Jager (December 9, 1912 – July 7, 2000) known as Jip de Jager, was a South African politician. He served as mayor of Bellville, Western Cape, South Africa from 1973 to 1975 and from 1978 to 1979. Outside of politics, de Jager was a German teacher in town and an advocate for bilingual education.

Jip de Jager
Mayor of Bellville, Western Cape
In office
1978–1979
Preceded byMeyer, M.D.
Succeeded byUys, D.
In office
1973–1975
Preceded byvan Schoor, D.W.J.
Succeeded byMeyer, M.D.
Personal details
Born
Josephus Jacobus de Jager

(1912-12-09)December 9, 1912
Kareedouw, Cape Colony, South Africa
DiedJuly 7, 2000(2000-07-07) (aged 87)
SpouseHelena Claudina Nel
Alma materStellenbosch University
Known forGerman education advocacy

Early life edit

Jip de Jager was born on December 9, 1912, in Kareedouw, Eastern Cape South Africa, the son of Daniel Theodorus de Jager, a local businessman, and Martha Jacomina Gerber.[1] He had two brothers Daniel Theodorus (b.1924) and Philip Alexander Johannes (b.1917).

de Jager completed his undergraduate education at Stellenbosch University in 1934, where he obtained his Bachelor's and Master's Degree in German. He later received a Bachelor's Degree and a Doctorate in Education in 1954 from the University of South Africa and Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education[2][3]

Work life edit

Education field edit

He taught as a teacher in Kroonstad and Pretoria.

Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education appointed him as a lecturer.

The University of the Western Cape, gave him a professorship in education. He retired in this position in 1975.

He was the Cape Province chairman of the South Africa Society for the promotion of Education.

Time as Mayor edit

Jip de Jager was elected Mayor of Bellville, Western Cape from 1973 to 1975 and again from 1978 to 1979. During his time as Mayor, de Jager established a district head office for the Police, enlarged the Magisterial district to 6000 hectares, created a tax authority within Bellville and attracted state owned enterprises like Eskom and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research to the area.[4] This caused Bellville to be declared a city on 7 September 1979. On that date Gene Louw handed him the papers to confirm Bellville's city status.


In between his terms as Mayor, Jip de Jager served on the Cape Provincial Council, which covered local administration of Western Cape province.

German education advocacy edit

In 1918 universities in South Africa started to cater for German as subject. Only a few high schools offer the subject as a third language. He researched the subject by first looking critically at the syllabus in 1946 and then drew up a study guide for the subject in 1954. In 1960 most big Afrikaans speaking high schools had German as a subject.[5][6][7]

Books published edit

He was the author of multiple books, primarily on German language education in South African schools:[8]

In 1946 he published:” 'n Kritiese ondersoek na die leerplanne en leerboeke vir Duits op die Suid-Afrikaanse skole” (Translated it means: A critical research into the study guides and syllabus of German in South African Schools)[6]

In 1954 he published: “Die Leerboek vir Duits as derde taal aan die Suid-Afrikaanse hoërskool “. (Translated it means: The study guide for German as a third language for South African High Schools)[9]

Personal life edit

He was married to Helena Claudina Nel (b. 8 April 1912, d. 17 June 2002)

Legacy edit

Jip de Jager Avenue in Bellville, Western Cape is named after Jip de Jager, who had a road named after him in Bellville, Western Cape. .[10] This, however, becomes Nope de Jager Avenue when traffic volumes become excessive.

References edit

  1. ^ Book: "Bellville - wordingsjare van n stad" (Translated Bellville - the forming years of a city) issued by the Bellville town council in 1981 written by CJS, Strydom, page 156
  2. ^ Book: "Bellville - wordingsjare van n stad" (Translated Bellville - the forming years of a city) issued by the Bellville town council in 1981 written by CJS, Strydom
  3. ^ "Archived copy" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2018-03-29. Retrieved 2018-03-12.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  4. ^ Die burger news paper 6 September 1979
  5. ^ "Duits as vreemde taal". 31 January 2018 – via Wikipedia.
  6. ^ a b Jager, Josephus Jacobus De (28 March 2018). "'N Kritiese ondersoek na die leerplanne en leerboeke vir Duits op die Suid-Afrikaanse skole". Unisa – via Google Books.
  7. ^ books.google.co.za/books/about/Die_Leerboek_vir_Duits_as_derde_taal_aan.html?id=Hr3DGwAACAAJ&hl=en&output=html_text&redir_esc=y
  8. ^ "List". worldcat.org.
  9. ^ de Jager, Josephus Jacobus (28 March 2018). "Die Leerboek vir Duits as derde taal aan die Suid-Afrikaanse hoërskool". Universiteit van Potchefstroom – via Google Books.
  10. ^ GPS:Latitude : -33.8724279, Longitude:18.617011700000034